Rolling-mill plant



(No Model.)

WITNESSES.

E. L. CLARK.

ROLLING MILL PLANT.

Patented Mar. 26, 1889.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDlVARD L. CLARK, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

ROLLING-MILL PLANT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 400,192, dated March26, 1889. Application filed February 9, 1889. Serial No. 299,235- (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWARD L. CLARK, of Pittsburg, in the county ofAllegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new usefulImprovement in Rolling-Mill Plants, of which the following is a full,clear, and exact description.

The accompanying drawings represent a rolling-mill plant constructedaccording to my invention, Figure 1 being aplan view thereof; Fig. 2, avertical longitudinal section, and Fig. 3 an enlarged verticalcross-section showing the shears which are employed for cutting themetal strip.

Like symbols of reference indicate like parts.

In the drawings,2, 3, and 4 representtrains of rolls, set with theiraxes in line with each other and driven by a common driving-shaft, 5,which is connected by belts and pulleys 6, or by other suitable gearing,with a driving-engine, 7. In rolling hoop iron or steel the'billet fromwhich the strip is to be made is passed back and forth a suitable numberof times between the rolls 2 and 3 until it is sufficiently elongatedand reduced in thickness and is in condition to be passed through thelast pair of the series of rolls, 4. As the strip emerges from the rolls4 it is received in and guided by a guide trough or channel, 8, which ispreferably downwardly inclined and extends throughout a distance aboutequal to the intended length of the strip. During the completion of themanufacture of the strip it is necessary to pass it throughfinishing-rolls, in order to impart to it the finish and gloss desirablein hoop iron or steel; but as the strip comes from the rolls 4 coveredwith scale it must be allowed to cool sufficiently to cause the scale toloosen and to enable it to be scraped off before it is capable of takingsuch fine finish. The greatly-increased length of the strip as it comesfrom the rolls 4, as compared with the original length of the billet,has in the method of rolling heretofore practiced formed a practicallimit to the size of the originalbillet which maybe employed, andconsequently to the output of the mill. The temperature of the ends ofthe strip in passing through the finishing-rolls must be substantiallyequal, or otherwise the strip will be unequally reduced by thefinishing-rolls, and will be of irregular size and gage. This evennessof temperature cannot practically be maintained in passing a long stripcontinuously through the finishingrolls, since it necessarily requiresconsiderable time to pass through the same, and if the forward end be ofproper temperature in entering the bite of the rolls the rear parts ofthe strip, passing through the rolls some time subsequently thereto, areapt to have chilled so much as to cause thatirregularity in size which Ihave noted. For this reason it has been the practice to form the stripfrom small billets, and as the labor and time necessarily employed inrolling them is almost as great as that employed in rolling billets oflarge size the improved quality of the product has been at tended wit-hdiminished output and a conse= quent loss.

In the use of my improvement this is not the case, and from billets oftwice the size of those heretofore commonly used I am enabled to makefinished strips of as uniform size as from the small billets inpractically the same length of time and with but little increase in costof labor. The output of the mill may thus be doubled without sacrificinganything in quality of the product and without propor-- tionately increasing the expense. To this end I prefer to employ two sets offinishing-rolls, 9 and 10, one of them preferably situated at or nearthe middle of the guide 8 and the other situated at the end thereof.These rolls are driven by suitable power-connections from an engine, 11,and are arranged at the side of the trough 8. At a place near the rolls9 is a shearing-machine, 12, the preferable position of which relativelyto the trough 8 and the strip b, which passes through the trough, isshown in Fig. Suitable guide-troughs, 13 and 14, lead from the deliverysides of the rolls 9 and 10.

The operation of the plant is as follows: The metal strip as it comesfrom the rolls 4 travels through the guide-trough 8, and when it haspassed through the trough to its full extent it is lifted by the workmenand is cut at the middle of its length into two parts by the shears 12.These parts are heldfor a time until they have severally reached theproper temperature to cause the scale to loosen. The scale is removedand the parts are passed separately through the rolls 9 and 10 at asnearly the same time as the slight difference moval of the scale mayconveniently be effected by scraping the surfaces of the strips duringtheir passage into and through the finishing-rolls by means of scrapersheld against the moving strips on the ingoing side of the rolls. Eachpart of the divided strip passes through the rolls forward end first,the for ward half of the strip passing through the rolls 10 and the rearhalf through the rolls 9, and as they pass nearly simultaneously throughthese rolls the finishing of the parts of the entire strip may be donein about the same time as that required in finishing a single strip madefrom a billet of half the size of the billet which I employ. Besidesthis practieal advantage, there is another advantage, which results fromthe fact that the divided sections of the long strip, being separatelyhandled and rolled and beingindividually no longer than the strips madefrom small bil- I lets, do not consume sufi'ieient time in passingthrough the finishing-rolls to cause them to chill and to be unequallyreduced; but each in their temperature will permit. The re-i l i sectionis short enough to maintain its proper temperature in passing throughthese rolls, and therefore when finished will be of substantiallyuniform size throughout.

I claim 1. As an improvement in rolling-mill plants, the combination ofthe rolls 4 and 10, the intermediate rolls, 9, and the shears adjacentto the rolls 9, substantially as and for the purposes described.

2. As an improvement in rolling-mill plants, the combination of the setsof rolls 4 and 1.0, the guide-trough 8, leading from the one set to theother, the set of rolls 9, arranged at the side of the trough, and theadjacent shears 12, substantially as and for the purposes described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 7th day ofFebruary, A. D. 1880 EDWVARD L. CLARK.

Witnesses:

W. B. CoRWIN, THOMAS W. XAKEWELL.

